Sunday, December 16, 2012

Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God. Let us make every
effort to purify our hearts, exert ourselves to stay alert, and as far as in us
lies gain this grace by constant prayer. And if we wonder about external
purity, the Lord tells us: Clean the inside, and then the outside will be
clean as well.

Some may think that Scripture refers to the body as much as to the
heart, for it is written: All mankind will see God’s salvation. How then can there be any doubt that the sight of
God is promised to us, unless there is doubt as to the meaning of God’s salvation.But since there is no uncertainty about this, there is no doubt: God’s salvation isChrist the Lord. The divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ can be seen
by the eyes of the heart when they are pure, perfect, and full of God; and he
was seen also in the body according to the text: Afterward he was seen on earth and lived among men. Thus the
meaning of the text: All mankind will see
the salvation of God is clear: let no one doubt that it means that we shall
see Christ.

Uncertainty remains, however, as to
whether we shall see the Lord Christ in the body, or as the Word who was in the
beginning, the Word who was with God and who was God, and into this we must
inquire. All mankind will see God’s salvation
is said to mean that all mankind will see God’s Christ. But Christ was also
seen in a body that was no longer mortal, a body that had undergone a spiritual
transformation. After his resurrection he himself said to those who saw and
touched him: Handle and see, for spirit
has not flesh and bones as you see that I have. This is how he will be
seen: not only how he was seen in the past but how he will be seen in the
future. And then surely the words all
mankind will be more perfectly fulfilled. For people see him now, but not
all people. On the Day of judgement, however, when he comes with his angels to
judge the living and the dead, when all who are in their graves hear his voice
and come forth, some rising to life, others to condemnation, they will see the
very form which he deigned to assume for our sake. Not only will the righteous
see it but also the wicked, both those on the right hand and those on the left,
for even those who killed him will see
him whom they pierced.

All
mankind, then, will see God’s salvation. Both those who
see and he who is seen will be in the body because it is in his real body that
he will come to judge. But to those placed on his right and sent to the kingdom
of heaven he will show himself in the way he promised when he was already seen
in the body: Those who love me will be
loved by my Father, and I will love them and show myself to them.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog is originally entitled PRAYERBOOK FOR RELIGIOUS (An online version of Fr. Francis Xavier Lasance's PRAYERBOOK FOR RELIGIOUS: A Complete Manual of Prayers and Devotions for the Use of the Members of All Religious Communities, originally published by Benziger Brothers, 1914.)

I have decided to widen the scope of this blog. So, in addition to the prayers from the Prayerbook for Religious, I will now post articles about the spiritual life and other things Catholic.

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SACRED AND EUCHARISTIC HEART OF JESUS

OUR BLESSED MOTHER

My PATRON: Saint Francis of Assisi

"It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."

MY PATRONESS: Saint Therese of Lisieux

"To Call God my Father and to Know myself His Child, that is Heaven to me ..."

FRANCISCUS PP.

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

V: Let us pray for our Pope Francis. R: May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. V: May Thy hand be ever upon the man of Thy right hand. R: And upon the son of man whom Thou hast confirmed unto thee. Let us Pray. O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Benedict, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.